Digital dating abuse (DDA), a manifestation of intimate partner violence (IPV), is becoming more relevant. Despite elevated rates of IPV among sexual minority individuals and increased experiences of DDA, research has focused largely on face-to-face forms of IPV (e.g., physical assault) among presumed heterosexual couples. The minority stress theory offers a lens through which we can understand the elevated rates of IPV, including DDA, among sexual minority individuals. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of minority stressors in DDA victimization and perpetration among sexual minority men. A sample of 491 cisgender gay and bisexual men (Mage = 31.35, SDage = 11.60) was recruited online. Consistent with prior research, discrimination was associated positively with internalized homophobia (IHP). Discrimination and IHP were directly linked to DDA victimization and perpetration. Indirect effect from discrimination to DDA victimization and perpetration, mediated by IHP, were significant. This study highlights the relationship between minority stressors and DDA among sexual minority men and indicates the need for more work on DDA among marginalized groups including sexual and gender minorities.
AlvarezC.FedockG.GraceK. T.CampbellJ. (2017). Provider screening and counseling for intimate partner violence: A systematic review of practices and influencing factors. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 18(5), 479–495. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838016637080
2.
ArdK. L.MakadonH. J. (2011). Addressing intimate partner violence in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 26, 930–933. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-011-1697-6
BacchusL. J.BullerA. M.FerrariG.PetersT. J.DevriesK.SethiG.WhiteJ.HesterM.FederG. S. (2016). Occurrence and impact of domestic violence and abuse in gay and bisexual men: A cross sectional survey. International Journal of STD & AIDS, 28(1), 16–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956462415622886
5.
Badenes-RiberaL.Sánchez-MecaJ.LongobardiC. (2019). The relationship between internalized homophobia and intimate partner violence in same-sex relationships: A meta-analysis. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 20(3), 331–343. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838017708781
6.
BakerN. L.BuickJ. D.KimS. R.MonizS.NavaK. L. (2013). Lessons from examining same-sex intimate partner violence. Sex Roles, 69, 182–192. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-012-0218-3
7.
BarrettB. J.PierreM.St. (2013). Intimate partner violence reported by lesbian-, gay-, and bisexual-identified individuals living in Canada: An exploration of within-group variations. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, 25(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538720.2013.751887
8.
BreidingM. J.ChenJ.WaltersM. L. (2013). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 findings of victimization by sexual orientation. National center for injury prevention and control. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/12362
9.
BuhrmesterM.KwangT.GoslingS. D. (2011). Amazon’s Mechanical Turk: A new source of inexpensive, yet high-quality, data?Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(1), 3–5. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610393980
10.
CannonC.ButtellF. (2020). Research-supported recommendations for treating LGBTQ perpetrators of IPV: Implications for policy and practice. Partner Abuse, 11(4), 485–504. https://doi.org/10.1891/PA-2020-0025
11.
CaridadeS.BragaT.BorrajoE. (2019). Cyber dating abuse (CDA): Evidence from a systematic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 48, 152–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2019.08.018
12.
CarvalhoA. F.LewisR. J.DerlegaV. J.WinsteadB. A.ViggianoC. (2011). Internalized sexual minority stressors and same-sex intimate partner violence. Journal of Family Violence, 26, 501–509. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-011-9384-2
13.
ChenJ.WalterM. L.GilbertL. K.PatelN. (2020). Sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence by sexual orientation, United States. Psychology of Violence, 10(1), 110–119. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000252
14.
DevriesK. M.MakJ. Y.BacchusL. J.ChildJ. C.FalderG.PetzoldM.AstburyJ.WattsC. H. (2013). Intimate partner violence and incident depressive symptoms and suicide attempts: A systematic review of longitudinal studies. PLoS Med, 10(5), e1001439. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001439
15.
EllysonA. M.AdhiaA.LyonsV. H.RivaraF. P. (2021). Prevalence, age of initiation, and patterns of co-occurrence of digital dating abuse behaviors nationwide. Children and Youth Service Review, 122, 105921. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105921
16.
EnglishD.RendinaH. J.ParsonsJ. T. (2018). The effects of intersecting stigma: A longitudinal examination of minority stress, mental health, and substance use among Black, Latino, and multiracial gay and bisexual men. Psychology of Violence, 8(6), 669–679. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000218
17.
FinneranC.ChardA.SineathC.SullivanP.StephensonR. (2012). Intimate partner violence and social pressure among gay men in six countries. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 13(3), 260–271. https://doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2012.3.11779
18.
FinneranC.StephensonR. (2014). Intimate partner violence, minority stress, and sexual risk-taking among U.S. men who have sex with men. Journal of Homosexuality, 61(2), 288–306. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2013.839911
19.
FordC. L.SlavinT.HiltonK. L.HoltS. L. (2013). Intimate partner violence prevention services and resources in Los Angeles: Issues, needs, and challenges for assisting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender clients. Health Promotion Practice, 14(6), 841–849. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839912467645
20.
GoodmanJ. K.CryderC. E.CheemaA. (2013). Data collection in a flat world: The strengths and weaknesses of Mechanical Turk samples. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 26(3), 213–224. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.1753
21.
HerekG. M.CoganJ. C.GillisJ. R.GluntE. K. (1998). Correlates of internalized homophobia in a community sample of lesbians and gay men. Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, 2(1), 17–25.
22.
HindujaS.PatchinJ. W. (2020). Digital dating abuse among a national sample of U.S. youth. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(23–24), 11088–11108. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519897344
23.
HuL. T.BentlerP. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
24.
IBM Corp. (2020). IBM SPSS statistics for Macintosh, Version 27.0. IBM Corp.
25.
KriegerN.SmithK.NaishadhamD.HartmanC.BarbeauE. M. (2005). Experiences of discrimination: Validity and reliability of a self-report measure for population health research on racism and health. Social Science & Medicine, 61(7), 1576–1596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.03.006
26.
LittleT. D.CunninghamW. A.ShaharG.WidamanK. F. (2002). To parcel or not to parcel: Exploring the question, weighing the merits. Structural Equation Modeling, 9(2), 151–173. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM0902_1
27.
LittleT. D.RhemtullaM.GibsonK.SchoemannA. M. (2013). Why the items versus parcels controversy needn’t be one. Psychological Methods, 18(3), 285–300. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033266
28.
LongobardiC.Badenes-RiberaL. (2017). Intimate partner violence in same-sex relationships and the role of sexual minority stressors: A systematic review of the past 10 years. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26, 2039–2049. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0734-4
29.
MacInnisC. C.BossH. C. D.BourdageJ. S. (2020). More evidence of participant misrepresentation on Mturk and investigating who misrepresents. Personality and Individual Differences, 152, 109603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109603
30.
MarshH. W.HauK. T.WenZ. (2004). In search of golden rules: Comment on hypothesis-testing approaches to setting cutoff values for fit indexes and dangers in overgeneralizing Hu and Bentler’s (1999) findings. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 11(3), 320–341. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328007sem1103_2
31.
McCabeS. E.BostwickW. B.HughesT. L.WestB. T.BoydC. J. (2010). The relationship between discrimination and substance use disorders among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 100(10), 1946–1952. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.163147
32.
McCabeS. E.HughesT. L.WestB. T.VelizP.BoydC. J. (2019). DSM-5 alcohol use disorder severity as a function of sexual orientation discrimination: A national study. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 43(3), 497–508. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.13960
33.
MeyerI. H. (1995). Minority stress and mental health in gay men. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 36(1), 38–56. https://doi.org/10.2307/2137286
34.
MeyerI. H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychol Bulletin, 129(5), 674–697. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.5.674
35.
MillerE.McCawB.HumphreysB. L.MitchellC. (2015). Integrating intimate partner violence assessment and intervention into healthcare in the United States: A systems approach. Journal of Women's Health, 24(1), 92–99. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2014.4870
36.
MurrayC. E.MobleyA. K.BufordA. P.Seaman-DeJohnM. M. (2007). Same-sex intimate partner violence. Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling, 1(4), 7–30. https://doi.org/10.1300/J462v01n04_03
PachankisJ. E.SullivanT. J.FeinsteinB. A.NewcombM. E. (2018). Young adult gay and bisexual men’s stigma experiences and health: An 8-year longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 54(7), 1381–1393. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000518
39.
ParentM. C. (2013). Handling item-level missing data: Simpler is just as good. The Counseling Psychologist, 41(4), 568–600. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000012445176
40.
PowellA.ScottA. J.HenryN. (2018). Digital harassment and abuse: Experiences of sexuality and gender minority adults. European Journal of Criminology, 17(2), 199–223. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370818788006
41.
ReedL. A.TolmanR. M.WardL. M. (2016). Snooping and sexting: Digital media as a context for dating aggression and abuse among college students. Violence Against Women, 22(13), 1556–1576. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801216630143
42.
ReedL. A.TolmanR. M.WardL. M. (2017). Gender matters: Experiences and consequences of digital dating abuse victimization in adolescent dating relationship. Journal of Adolescence, 59(1), 79–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.05.015
43.
StephensonR.FinneranC. (2017). Minority stress and intimate partner violence among gay and bisexual men in Atlanta. American Journal of Men’s Health, 11(4), 952–961. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1557988316677506
44.
SwailesA. L.LehmanE. B.PerryA. N.McCall-HosenfeldJ. S. (2016). Intimate partner violence screening and counseling in the health care setting: Perception of provider-based discussions as a strategic response to IPV. Health Care for Women International, 37(7), 790–801. https://doi.org/10.1080/07399332.2016.1140172
45.
TrujilloO.CantuJ. I.CharakR. (2020). Unique and cumulative effects of intimate partner cybervictimization types on alcohol use in lesbian, gay, and bisexual emerging adults. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 23(11), 743–751. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0773
46.
Van OuytselJ.PonnetK.WalraveM. (2017). Cyber dating abuse: Investigating digital monitoring behaviors among adolescents from a social learning perspective. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(23–24), 5157–5178. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517719538
47.
WalchS. E.NgamakeS. T.BovornusvakoolW.WalkerS. V. (2016). Discrimination, internalized homophobia, and concealment in sexual minority physical and mental health. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 3(1), 37–48. http://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000146
48.
WatkinsL. E.MaldonadoR. C.DiLilloD. (2018). The cyber aggression in relationship scale: A new multidimensional measure of technology-based intimate partner aggression. Assessment, 25(5), 608–626. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191116665696
49.
WesslingK. S.HuberJ.NetzerO. (2017). MTurk character misrepresentation: Assessment and solutions. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(1), 211–230. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucx053
50.
WestC. M. (2012). Partner abuse in ethnic minority and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender populations. Partner Abuse, 3(3), 336–357. https://doi.org/10.1891/1946-6560.3.3.336
51.
YahnerJ.DankM.ZweigJ. M.LachmanP. (2015). The co-occurrence of physical and cyber dating violence and bullying among teens. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(7), 1079–1089. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260514540324
52.
ZweigJ. M.DankM.YahnerJ.LachmanP. (2013). The rate of cyber dating abuse among teens and how it relates to other forms of teen dating violence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42, 1063–1077. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9922-8
53.
ZweigJ. M.LachmanP.YahnerJ.DankM. (2014). Correlates of cyber dating abuse among teens. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43, 1306–1321. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-0047-x
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
